The Southwest Heritage Racing Association, presented by MalloryPrint.com, held their third event of it's inaugural season at Little River Dragway in Temple, Texas on Saturday, June 1st. Despite an unfavorable forecast, the event went on without a drop of rain and with the Texas summer heat and humidity pouring on it was plenty hot both on and off the track. The SHRA Nostalgia Eliminator teams were the three classes in action as the drivers got their machines warmed up and ready for the first qualifying session.

Entering the halfway point of the 2013 season, Steve Matthews held an undefeated round record, two straight SHRA event wins and a film grip on the Nostalgia Eliminator 1 points lead with his Oklahoma based blown front engine dragster. Johnnie Laird's points lead in Nostalgia Eliminator 2 was likely in jeopardy as he missed this event which opened the door for racers like Bee Godwin and Tommy Drozd to make a move to the top in NE 2. Doug Morrison of Gainesville, Texas and his injected altered also entered the event with a perfect round record and two straight wins, hoping to continue his winning streak in Nostalgia Eliminator 3.

(Doug Morrison)

Morrison was plagued by engine troubles when he discovered a crack in his block just days before the event. Upon further disassembly, several other issues were identified and it appeared it would take longer than expected to get repairs done, which would likely force Morrison to miss several SHRA events. Considering all the information he now had, Morrison acted fast as he knew if he missed Temple he would quite possibly loose his points lead, so now he was on a mission. To make a long story short, on Friday, Morrison and team opted to remove a Chevrolet engine he also owned that was in a friend's dragster and install it into Morrison's bantam altered. By 2 a.m. on Saturday the engine was installed and running and at 9:30 a.m. Morrison and company pulled out of their driveway on their way to Temple. Now that's dedication!

Nostalgia Eliminator 3:

The Nostalgia Eliminator 3 class welcomed several new racers to the series including Mike Thomas, Gary Mitchell, Elmo Howe and Michael Shishkoff. Nine teams came to get some of the 5.50 index class action in NE 3 and young gun Dusty Rose claimed the number one qualifying position after two qualifying sessions with a 5.51 at 119 mph in the "Foggy Mountain Special" front engine dragster from Moore, Oklahoma. On a side note, Rose and company narrowly missed the devastation of the Moore Tornado just a few weeks ago. Ron Muncy qualified in the number two spot with a 5.54 and James Armstrong held down the number three position with a 5.59.

In the opening pair of eliminations, James Armstrong and Doug Morrison brought their altereds to the line. Morrison, after all the thrashing and late hours, now faced fuel pump issues and with a failing pump had the best seat in the house to watch Armstrong cruise to the round win with a 6.56 at 70 mph to Morrison's 7.91.

(James Armstrong vs. Doug Morrison)

Ron Muncy came to the line ready to take on new comer Gary Mitchell. Mitchell had been running just a few ticks under 5.50 in qualifying and posted a 5.48 at 115 mph breakout to Muncy's winning 5.53 at 116 mph as the veteran moved on. Despite breaking out, Mitchell had a good time and will be a regular in the SHRA series from now on.

(Gary Mitchell)

Mike Shishkoff brought his Houston, Texas based "Alcohol Express" injected Fiat to the line in his SHRA debut, ready to take on fellow new comer Mike Thomas in his front engine dragster. Shishkoff was off the line first and never trailed, posting a winning 6.01 at 105 mph to Thomas' 6.25 at 113 mph.

(Mike Thomas)

Elmo Howe fired up his blown front engine dragster set to race Ron Walden as eliminations continued. Walden, who qualified number four, was a no show after discovering battery issues just before the first round of eliminations began. Howe laid down a half track burnout, and then clicked off a clean 5.77 at 135 mph to advance.

(Ron Walden)

Number one qualifier Dusty Rose drew the bye run and earned the Good Vibrations "Quick Reaction Time" bonus on his single pass with a .015 reaction time. Rose posted a 5.45 at 120 mph to move into the second round.

James Armstrong and the "Leprechaun Racing" team were again out first to start the second round of eliminations, this time facing Elmo Howe. Armstrong was out first and never looked back, posting a nice 5.58 at 119 mph to Howe's 6.09 at 133 mph.

(Elmo Howe)

Dusty Rose rolled to the line alongside Mike Shishkoff as second round continued. Rose took a huge starting line advantage and his 5.84 was enough to take the win over Shishkoff's 5.98 at 111 mph. Ron Muncy drew the bye run and proved he was ready to play with a .020 reaction time and a 5.53 at 122 mph to advance to the semi-finals.

Ron Muncy and Dusty Rose fired their engines and brought their machines into the beams under the lights at Little River Dragway. Rose blasted off the line with a .015 reaction time to Muncy's close .024. At the stripe Muncy lit the scoreboards with a winning 5.52 at 122 mph to Rose's close 5.57 at 117 mph as Muncy moved into the final round. James Armstrong benefitted from the bye run in the semi-final and clicked off a clean 5.58 at 119 mph to move into the last dance to take on the cagey veteran.

In the final round, Muncy and Armstrong crept into the beams to decide a winner in NE 3. Muncy had been the car to beat all day with consistent passes in the low 5.50 zone and Muncy was off the line first by over a tenth and his 5.51 at 122 mph took the win over Armstrong's 5.94 at 119 after Armstrong lost traction off the line. This marked Muncy's first SHRA series win and catapulted him into the number two points position, just sixteen points behind fearless leader Doug Morrison. Morrison's efforts to make the Temple event paid off as he was able to hold onto his points lead in NE 3.

Nostalgia Eliminator 2 action at Temple was led by number one qualifier Tommy Drozd in his beautiful flamed altered with Bee Godwin in the number two spot and Thomas Hixson qualified third. This was the first event for the racers to compete in the revised index of 5.00 for NE 2.

(Tommy Drozd)

Another story of a die-hard drag racer doing everything he could to make it to the races was portrayed in Bee Godwin's efforts to attend the Temple event. Godwin wounded a motor at the last SHRA event at the Texas Motorplex and on Monday before the event in Temple, Godwin hit the road to Florida where he picked up a new 434 Chevrolet engine for his front engine dragster. Returning to Texas on Wednesday, Godwin thrashed long and hard and was able to make it to a local track to test Friday night before making his way to Little River Dragway on Saturday. Godwin's determination seemed to pay off as he soon found himself in the winners circle in NE 2 competition.

In the first round of eliminations, number one qualifier Tommy Drozd found himself matched with the "One Wild Ride" injected front engine dragster of Thomas Hixson. Hixson blasted off the line too soon and lost the round, despite laying down a 4.95 at 137 mph, his best pass of the season, while Drozd posted a 5.14 at 130 mph to advance to the final round.

(Thomas Hixson)

Bee Godwin wheeled his beautiful full bodied front engine dragster to the beams after drawing the bye run and coupled a .016 reaction time with a clean 5.20 at 132 mph to advance to the finals to take on Drozd.

After their burnouts, Drozd and Godwin brought their machines into the stage beams to crown a winner in NE 2. Drozd launched off the line too soon with a -.274 reaction time and Godwin cruised to his best pass of the night, a 5.17 at 132 mph to claim a well-earned first SHRA series victory. Congratulations to Bee and Sharon Godwin on their win as the team moved into the points lead over Thomas Hixson in Nostalgia Eliminator 2.

The 4.65 index Nostalgia Eliminator 1 class brought the wild blown machines to the strip as the thunder of supercharged front engine dragsters echoed through the facility at Little River Dragway, one of the oldest and most nostalgic drag strips in the southwest. Richard Brady entered the NE 1 class with his injected slingshot and showed the blower boys how to play ball by qualifying number one with a 4.77 at 142 mph, followed closely by Steve Dunkin's 4.78 at 137 mph. Chris Graves and Steve Matthews both posted times in the low 4.80 range after two qualifying sessions as the teams returned to the pits and prepared for the first round of eliminations.

Number one qualifier Richard Brady lined up with Chris Graves in the opening pair of first round eliminations. Graves blasted off the line with a .001 reaction time and at half-track the cars were nose to nose, but Graves was forced to lift after drifting to the guardrail while Brady clicked off a 4.88 at 118 mph for the win.

(Chris Graves)

Steve Matthews and Steve Dunkin had a wacky situation develop on the starting line in their first round match up. Matthews brought his dragster into the stage beam and hit the trans-brake button, which made the car jump out of the second beam, this happening while Dunkin was just entering his second stage beam. When Matthews re-lit his stage beam, that flash made Dunkin react and he launched off the line with a red light giving Matthews the automatic win. No harm no foul by either driver as they discussed the results at the top end and agreed it was simply a series of unintentional errors, as Matthews moved on to face Brady in the final of NE 1.

In the closest final round in SHRA series history, Steve Matthews and Richard Brady put on a great drag race to decide a winner at Little River Dragway. Both drivers left with reaction times in the .050 zone and less than a few inches separated the cars all the way through the eighth mile. At the stripe, Matthews' slightly quicker 4.804 at 144 was just enough to hold off Brady's 4.809 at 142 mph as Matthews clinched his third straight NE 1 event win and kept his undefeated round record intact.

With the third of six SHRA events in the books, Matthews, Godwin and Muncy left Little River Dragway with event victories in hand and another successful outing was concluded for the SHRA series. Kirk Wolf, owner of Little River Dragway, was more than pleased with the series and is anticipating the return of the SHRA to his facility.

The SHRA series will welcome back the sportsman classes as well as all three Nostalgia Eliminator classes at the next event on the schedule, which takes place on July 6th at North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas. The SHRA will showcase it's talent with all five classes in action during the biggest event of the year for North Star Dragway, their anniversary event, the "Pro Mod vs. Fuel Altered Showdown".